'More confident' Gunner Maldonado leads Arizona's defense after breakout season

Life has been good for Gunner Maldonado in the last year.

At this point in 2023, Maldonado was in the middle of an intense battle for a starting safety position in Arizona’s defensive secondary. Once crowned a starter, he was named a team captain and leader for the Wildcats — and Alamo Bowl MVP.

Fast-forward to this year, and Maldonado was one of four players chosen to represent the team at the inaugural Big 12 Media Days in Las Vegas to kick off the new 16-team era for the conference.

“This time last year, I was doing everything I could to be a leader, but I didn’t know I was at that level,” Maldonado said. “So now I’m more confident in that role, helping younger guys, making new relationships with the transfers and just trying to be a good teammate.”

The senior from Chandler is “finally the old guy on the team, so that’s really weird,” said Maldonado, who is entering his fourth season with the program after a season at Northwestern.

Maldonado transferred to Arizona just after former head coach Jedd Fisch was hired by the Wildcats and went through 1-11 and 5-7 seasons before the Wildcats elevated to a 10-3 season and a win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, the best two-year turnaround in program history. Maldonado’s 87-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the Alamo Bowl sparked the Wildcats’ comeback to beat Oklahoma — a play that could go arguably down as a top 3 moment in program history behind Chuck Cecil’s pick-six against Arizona State in 1986 and Ortege Jenkins’ “Leap by the Lake” against Washington in 1998.

“It’s a cool play to watch,” Maldonado said of his game-changing play. “That’s one of those plays that makes you damn near emotional. Where it was in the season, what it meant, seeing the home team, the sideline. It was just awesome.”

Maldonado is the only transfer from Arizona’s 2021 recruiting cycle that’s still on the roster.

“When I first got here, it was tough in Tucson, but I knew that’s what I was coming into and I embraced it,” Maldonado said. “I think we did a good job in the last two years turning those tides.”

The same could be said for Maldonado, who is arguably the most improved defensive player for Arizona over the last two seasons.

Maldonado went from 48 tackles and three forced fumbles in 2022 to 81 tackles (third-best by a Wildcat), three fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and two interceptions in 2023. Maldonado’s mistakes, like whiffed tackles that led to extra yards or receivers catching deep balls, weren’t as noticeable, either.

His missed-tackle percentage dropped from 24.2% in ’22 to 11.2% in ’23, according to Pro Football Focus. Receivers’ yards after catch (YAC), with Maldonado in coverage, dipped from 283 yards to 166, per PFF. Maldonado’s overall PFF grade rose from 50.9 to 77.1, and his tackling grade improved from 38.1 to 76.4.

Maldonado credits his turnaround to “taking more time to study.”

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“Study the game more, prepare more for each game,” he said. “But at the same time, I just trusted myself and just went out there and played football. I think when you’re thinking too much, you’re one step too slow. When you’re out there playing and you’ve been playing your whole life, it just happens. I think that’s what happened.”

Maldonado was also impacted by the coaching of Cecil, Arizona’s former safeties coach and UA great, who is now a senior defensive assistant under first-year head coach Brent Brennan, along with defensive coordinator and longtime defensive backs coach Duane Akina, who was a defensive backs assistant last season. The addition of the well-traveled 67-year-old Akina has “grown my football intellect dramatically,” Maldonado said.

“With both (Akina and Cecil), you’re held to a high standard, and that standard your held to makes you play better,” Maldonado said. “You gotta rise up to that. You have high expectations, but they prepare you to perform in those situations.”

Brennan noticed Maldonado’s defensive back prowess while dissecting plays during offensive film sessions in the spring. Brennan said Maldonado is “an awesome football player and a very impressive young man.”

“He’s such a good football player. I’m excited for him this fall,” Brennan said. “I think he’s going to have a great year.”

The safety tandem of Maldonado and redshirt junior Dalton Johnson, along with potential All-Big 12 selection and first-round NFL Draft pick in cornerback Tacario Davis and do-everything nickel back Treydan Stukes, gives Arizona a formidable secondary for the most anticipated UA football season in recent years.

Maldonado and Johnson “do the same very well, but we also have specific things that we do better than the other, and I think we know each other very well,” Maldonado said.

“It sounds weird, but we don’t really end up talking as much, because we know each other so much. It’s weird, but it’s good though,” he added. “That dude over there knows me so well, and I know him so well, and it just works; same with Stukes, too. ... I personally think he’s the top DB in the Big 12.

“There’s really nothing I could say (Stukes) can’t do well. Man (coverage), I’ll put him against anybody in man-cover, inside or outside. It’s hard to find guys who can play man inside; he can play inside or outside. Physically, he’s there and not undersized by any means. He’s long and has the speed to run with slot receivers down the field. He tackles well, sets the edge in the run game, he can play zone coverage. If motions happens and he has to bump into free safety, we’re comfortable with him playing that position. He’s just a great player and he can play every position in the secondary.”

This will likely be the last year Maldonado, Stukes, Johnson and Davis share the field together at Arizona, but the veteran secondary, along with linebacker Jacob Manu and a rebuilt defensive line, could be the difference-maker for Arizona’s Big 12 championship and College Football Playoff hopes.

Maldonado’s last year at the UA could be the best one of his career.

“It’s been a journey — it’s been a great one, though,” Maldonado said. “Every step of the way has built me into the person I am today, not even just the player but the person I am today.

“I wouldn’t take back anything or any moves I made in my college career. I think it all worked out good for me, and I’m happy to be where I’m at. I don’t think it ever goes as planned, but I like how it went.”